Shish Kebab House of Afghanistan

Delicious, authentic Afghan food served with style, elegance, and class. The dishes looked so beautiful and colorful I almost didn't want to mess them up by eating them! Almost. For an appetizer, we ordered samosas (fried pastries stuffed with peas and potatoes). The real highlight of the dish was the green chutney sauce to dip them in, and it took me a little while to figure out that what made it so amazing was the cilantro! For my meal, I had the chicken kebab, succulent and moist chunks of spiced chicken grilled on a skewer. It came with light spinach rice and a pumpkin puree (I love anything and everything pumpkin). I also tried the eggplant side dish, which was cooked perfectly in a sauce and was one of the best parts of the meal. If you want to try something unique to make the whole meal come together, order the Afghan tea on ice (black tea, cardamom, and milk). It was similar to Thai iced tea, but with its own distinctive flavors.

The ambiance here perfectly complements the meal. Downstairs is a bar and hookah lounge, but upstairs is a gorgeous dining room, with oriental rugs, paintings, romantic lighting, and fine china. I felt as though I had travelled to Afghanistan. To make it even more special, go on a Friday night for a live oud performance.

Although expensive, this restaurant is worth it for the unique experience.

The food and service were both excellent.

The decor is more spartan than you might expect in an ethnic restaurant: in other words, not kitschy, at least in the part of the restaurant where we sat.

The wait staff must have guessed that our party of four was settling in for a long gab-fest, because we were seated in a small loft by ourselves. Each loft has a skylight and a single table for six, and is up a short flight of steps from the main dining room. Despite our relative isolation, we received excellent service.

Afghan food is somewhat like Indian food, but more like Persian food as far as spicing goes. Even the names are similar. None of the dishes are "hot," but there is plentiful use of spices such as cardamon and mint.

The menu is pretty self-explanatory, and the waitstaff can answer any questions that you might have. Some dishes (marked in the menu) can be prepared as vegetarian.

The physical layout of the place might put you in mind of the art of M. C. Escher, with short stairways at odd angles, so the interior space is broken up. I'm not even sure which floor we were on, since you go up one of those short flights right from the front door. There is elevator access, but we didn't check it out.

We didn't explore the bar or the hookah lounge. The bar looked elegant, and the hookah lounge was dimly lit.

The four of us spent about $170, including one beer, two sangria, tax, and tip. We each had an appetizer, an entree, and three of us had the rice pudding for dessert. All of the portions were generous.

I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this restaurant to anyone who can afford it.

One caution: West Hartford charges for parking during the evening, and they enforce a two hour limit at the meters. Park in one of the town lots. There is one behind the restaurant, and others not far away. Paying for parking is a nuisance, but compared to other places it is dirt cheap. We were there for over three hours, and our parking cost us only $4.50.

The upstairs hookah lounge overlooking the town is very nice. The floor was very clean and not bar-like. Thh lounge is part of a very nice restaurant and bar. I'm the type who tends to overdress but this place was great for starting out a fancy evening. They have an adequate selection of flavors and the staff is friendly. When the crowd started coming in, however, the service seemed to slow almost as if the staff was unable to keep up.

I would definitely return but not more than once per week due to the prices. 25 for hookah and 15 for refills. Also, there is no liquor allowed in the smoking lounge.